Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Draft: Boston Bruins

The Vegas Golden Knights will take a chance on a Boston Bruins defenseman.

The Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft outlook continues to the Eastern Conference starting in Boston. The Boston Bruins currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division with 72 points in 64 games played. After a mediocre 55 games, the Bruins decided to part ways with former Head Coach Claude Julien.

New Head Coach Bruce Cassidy and his team has fared very well since then, going 7-2-0 in nine games since he took the new promotion. Young guns Frank Vatrano, Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak have stepped up in that stretch.

The Bruins future looks bright with young defensive prospects Charlie McAvoy, Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon on the rise. The future at the forward position don’t look to shabby for Boston either with Zach Senyshen, Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk. Mix all that together with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask, and the Bruins will look like a force in the Atlantic division again.

Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney will no doubt go with the seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender scheme. Bruins also won’t have to worry about losing players/prospects like Vatrano, Heinen, Brandon Carlo and Peter Cehlarik. All of their top prospects will be exempt from the expansion draft.

Tuukka Rask has impressed all year-long for Boston and fans should be happy to have him. Rask has a 30-15-4 record with a 2.26 GAA, a .913 save percentage and six shutouts.

Rask has been a top goalie in the league for years and he’s proving that more so this year. Tuukka bailed out the Bruins defense many times this season, especially early on. He’s the obvious keep in the crease with Anton Khudobin being the goaltender exposed.

On defense, Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug are the locks for sure. The last spot on defense should go to Colin Miller. The 24-year old budding defenseman has started to come more into form over the past couple of months.

Sweeney would be a fool to expose him to the expansion draft. If he does, Vegas Golden Knights General Manager George McPhee won’t waste anytime picking up Colin Miller. However, the fans of the Golden Knights shouldn’t count on it.

There’s six easy forwards to protect if your Boston. That protection list includes Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Backes, David Pastrnak, David Krejci and Ryan Spooner. I’ve heard people bouncing around on who should get the last forward slot between Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes. To be completely honest with you guys, neither deserve the last slot. The Bruins newest player Drew Stafford has yet to play a game, so it’s tough to say if he deserves the last protection spot as well.

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I’m going off the board a bit and picking veteran Center Dominic Moore. This all depends if he re-ups with the Bruins but I don’t see why he wouldn’t. Nine Goals, nine Assists and 18 Points for a 4th line player.

Moore has great hockey sense and one of the best defensive forwards in the game. The 35-year-old gives it his all 100% of the time, penalty kills and does very well on faceoffs. What’s not to like about a player like that?

George McPhee has options but not great options when looking at what the Bruins are going to expose. Matt Beleskey could be a prime pick to go to Vegas, but he’s not having the best of years with Boston due to injuries and not playing on a consistent basis. The Golden Knights could decide to go the cheaper route with Jimmy Hayes. The former 1st round pick scored 19 Goals two seasons ago but hasn’t made the impact that Bruins management hoped for.

On defense, there are players like Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid who also could give Vegas some spark. The problem that stems with these players is they’re both the exact same players that give the exact same qualities. They’re both tough hard-nosed defensemen who are physical, tough and not afraid to drop the gloves every now and then. Today’s prototypical NHL defenseman should have some puck moving ability and neither of these two bring that to the table.

Then there is the defenseman everyone in Boston forgets about. Joe Morrow should be the guy that McPhee takes a chance on. In an expansion draft with 30 teams involved, you can afford to take multiple chances on unproven players like Morrow.

Morrow is puck moving defenseman who’s very aggressive on the puck and has great skating ability. The Alberta native needs to work on improving game to game consistency and limiting turnovers in his own zone. The 24-year old hasn’t gotten much of a chance from any NHL organization he’s been in.

He’s been traded on two separate occasions, first by the Pittsburgh Penguins and the following time by the Dallas Stars. In addition to being traded, the B’s have given Morrow very little time to get used to playing in the NHL level. Furthermore, a new expansion team like the Vegas Golden Knights could be the opportunity Morrow needs.

Next: Which Player From Winnipeg Will Take A Jet Over To Vegas?

The Golden Knights could also go with a different option and pick Beleskey, Hayes, McQuaid or Miller, but I feel that Morrow could prove to be valuable if he lives up that 1st round pick billing back in 2011. Morrow is a player that needs to find his role at the NHL level, and the only way to find that out is to play him. As a result, I see Morrow going over to Vegas as the 5th or 6th defenseman and work him into different roles such as powerplay and penalty killing.

Golden Knights Prediction: Joe Morrow

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